The Imaginative Conservative

Quote of the Day: Whittaker Chambers

2012-02-02T00:02:00.001-06:00

Spending time at the state capitol recently reminded me just how easily men are misled into embracing ideologies of every sort, and how much damage is done to our civilization as a result. The experience prompted me to open my Whittaker Chambers book from college -- Witness -- and thumb through to one of my favorite parts: His "Letter to My Children." I first encountered this in one of fellow

The Christianity of Modernism by Cleanth Brooks

2012-02-02T00:01:00.002-06:00

Though he came out of the Southern Agrarian school, Cleanth Brooks (1906-1994) is now mostly remembered as the father of the literary “New Criticism.” Brooks studied at Vanderbilt, Tulane, and Oxford (at the latter, with J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis), and he spent the majority of his teaching career at Louisiana State and Yale. In the fascinating article reprinted here, Brooks challenged the

Mike Church & Winston Elliott discuss Conservatism, Russell Kirk and the Humane Economy

2012-02-01T12:49:00.003-06:00

by Mike Church MANDEVILLE, LA - EXCLUSIVE AUDIO - Today we have an exclusive, almost HOUR LONG, interview with Winston Elliott III. In the interview Winston and Mike discuss the Humane Economy, why true Conservatives shouldn't make everything about dollars and cents, and Conservatism vs Republicanism. (Hear the complete audio here. The essay discussed in the interview is The Humane Economy of

T.S. Eliot, Literature of Politics (part II--conclusion)

2012-02-01T00:02:00.001-06:00

(read part I here) . . . [in original] But how, in the end, does the work of a mere writer affect political life? One is sometimes tempted to answer that the profounder and wiser the man, the less likely is his influence to be discernible. This, of course, is to take a very short view; and at the other extreme, in considering the thought of the very greatest we can hardly speak of their ‘

An interview with FEE President, Larry Reed

2012-02-01T00:01:00.009-06:00

As I’ve frequently made clear in print and in lectures, I hold Larry Reed in the highest regard. I first had the opportunity to work with Larry in the fall of 1988 or 1989 (I can’t remember now!), and we hit it off instantly. Sitting our first evening together in a Vietnamese restaurant, Larry held me spellbound with his many stories of going behind the Iron Curtain (in Europe, in Asia, in the

"The Conservative Believes..." by Russell Kirk

2012-01-31T07:49:00.002-06:00

The conservative believes that the individual is foolish, although the species is wise; therefore, unlike the confident intellectual, he declines to undertake the reconstruction of society and human nature upon the scanty capital of his private stock of reason. The conservative believes that the world is not perfectible, and that we fallen human creatures, here below, are not made for happiness,

The Pillars of Agrarianism

2012-01-31T00:01:00.005-06:00

The Southern Agrarians represent one of the most interesting movements of the first half of the twentieth century. Principled as well as intellectual, the Agrarians offered much for America to ponder. "Nightfall" by N.C. Wyeth Sadly, however, it is quite possible the Southern Agrarians of the 1920s and 1930s will be remembered, if at all, as a footnote to the great storm and whirligig of

T.S. Eliot, The Literature of Politics (part I)

2012-01-30T00:01:00.007-06:00

by Bradley J. Birzer The following are excerpts from a speech T.S. Eliot gave on April 19, 1955, at the London Conservative Union. I have typed verbatim what Time and Tide reprinted in its April 23, 1955 issue. One can find the full speech in T.S. Eliot, To Criticize the Critic and Other Writings (1965; Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1991), 136-144. I decided to take from Time and

I, Earthman

2012-01-28T00:01:00.002-06:00

by Stephen Masty(with apologies to Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein and everybody else) July 1, 2019: We finally escaped the cramped quarters of our spacecraft, The Triumph of America, and moved into Eagle 1, the prefab base camp that became our lunar home. Despite slightly more living space, Lieutenant McAlister and Dr. Swann were still at loggerheads. What seemed to be

"Aristocracy" by T.S. Eliot

2012-01-27T13:56:00.000-06:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES Sir.—The traditional use of the word [aristocracy] implies, I believe, an emphasis upon inheritance: not merely the inheritance of property, however important that may seem to some, but the inheritance, partly through biological transmission and partly through environment, of, other less tangible values. In other words, the unit of aristocracy, in the sense in which

The Humane Economy of Wilhelm Roepke

2012-01-27T00:01:00.006-06:00

by Russell Kirk Today I offer you some observations concerning Wilhelm Roepke, a principal social thinker of the 20th century - and, incidentally, the principal architect of Germany's economic recovery at the end of the Second World War. His books are out of print in this country at present, but I plan to reprint in a series that I edit, The Library of Conservative Thought, his study The Social

Unexplainable Behaviour by Churchmen

2012-01-26T00:01:00.004-06:00

by Stephen Masty Yesterday saw a puzzling outbreak of abnormality from senior Christian leaders that, so far, nobody has attributed to this week’s solar storm which was the biggest since 2005. Anglican bishops in Britain’s House of Lords revolted over the Government’s proposal to cap family welfare benefits at 26,000 pounds sterling per annum ($40,600), which is the average national salary.

Will We Learn from Rome?

2012-01-25T08:02:00.000-06:00

The rise of Rome from a crossroads town to world mastery, its achievement of two centuries of security and peace from the Crimea to Gibraltar and from the Euphrates to Hadrian’s Wall, its spread of classic civilization over the Mediterranean and western European world, its struggle to preserve its ordered realm from a surrounding sea of barbarism, its long, slow crumbling and final catastrophic

My Favorite Liberal Arts Professor and I Never Had Him for Class

2012-01-25T00:01:00.001-06:00

by Robert M. Woods What prompted this blog is that not long ago, a professor I have tremendous respect for stated in an interview that there are few, if any great essayist alive and writing today. If I understood him correctly, I disagree. If I misunderstood him, I apologize. In either case, I wanted to write a blog (not an essay) about my favorite living Liberal Arts professor. There are

Literature in a Democracy

2012-01-24T07:40:00.000-06:00

"By and large the literature of a democracy will never exhibit the order, regularity, skill, and art characteristic of aristocratic literature; formal qualities will be neglected or actually despised. The style will often be strange, incorrect, overburdened, and loose, and almost always strong and bold. Writers will be more anxious to work quickly than to perfect details. Short works will be

Leo Strauss on Zionism

2012-01-24T07:29:00.001-06:00

I came across this letter in my research on conservatism in the 1950s. It appears in one of the earliest issues of National Review, January 5, 1956, pg. 23, in the letters to the editor section. I didn't retype it fully--but these selections, I hope, will give a sense of his argument. As far as I know, Strauss never identified himself as a conservative. Rather, if memory serves (and I

Defending Hayek

2012-01-23T00:01:00.001-06:00

by Brad Birzer When Friedrich Hayek announced his personal political philosophy as an “unrepentant Old Whig” in his magnum opus Constitution of Liberty, he was reaching deep into the well of the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian traditions, even if he had originally spoken these words against his friend, Russell Kirk, in their famous Mont Pelerin debate of 1957.[1] While the Old Whigs founded

TIC Exclusive Interview with President Obama

2012-01-22T10:46:00.000-06:00

This is Herbie Hardcheese, TIC’s Election-2012 reporter, here in the Oval Office for an exclusive interview with President Barak Obama. Mister President, what do you make of the Republican nomination process so far? Obama: Herbie, I’m glad you asked me that question. The gingham dog and the calico cat Side by side on the table sat; 'T was half-past twelve, and (what do you think!) Nor one nor

Women and Children First

2012-01-21T14:36:00.007-06:00

Mark Steyn's observations on the Costa Concordia and The Sinking of the West, remind me of James Hamilton, Jr., for whom "women and children first" meant something. Hamilton (1786 - 1857) was born near Charleston on May 8, 1786 to James Hamilton, Sr., a rice planter, and his wife Elizabeth Lynch. He was educated at Newport, Rhode Island and Dedham, Massachusetts before returning to Charleston

Röpke’s Conundrums Over the Natural Family

2012-01-21T00:01:00.001-06:00

by Allan C. Carlson Wilhelm Röpke Wilhelm Röpke was an unusual free-market economist working in a difficult time. I believe that we should see him, first of all, as a product of 1914, the year which launched what he called “the devastation on so gigantic a scale to which mankind, then having gone mad, dedicated itself.” Mustered to war as a young man, Röpke served in the trenches on the Western

"Among the Ruins of Carthage" by Russell Kirk, 1963

2012-01-20T11:24:00.001-06:00

Nowhere are Roman ruins thicker than in Tunisia. For this, from the days when Scipio took Punic Carthage until the Vandals broke into the city, was the Province of Africa, wondrously rich and populous. St. Augustine was born in Carthage — of a patrician family — and died in neighboring Hippo, when the Vandals were at the gates. I have just spent some days in Tunis and the country round about.

Decline and Fall

2012-01-20T00:01:00.004-06:00

by Thomas F. Bertonneau At the End of an Age by John Lukacs. Yale University Press (New Haven, Connecticut), 240pp., $22.95 cloth, 2002. In his book, At the End of an Age, historian John Lukacs argues that the Modern Era, which began about five hundred years ago, is rapidly coming to its terminus, or might indeed already have given way to a new era, the outlines of which do not yet fully

Recovering Economics

2012-01-19T00:01:00.004-06:00

by Harry VeryserAn economist is someone who sees something happen in practice and wonders if it would work in theory. —Ronald ReaganDoes economics have any real value? That blunt question has been voiced with greater frequency in recent years. After all, mainstream economics, with its cherished theories and complex mathematical models, failed to predict or to prescribe adequate remedies for the

Manifesto of the Communist Party: The Occupiers and The Big Picture

2012-01-18T08:58:00.004-06:00

by Robert M. Woods Of all of the readings in volume one in The Great Ideas Program, by Mortimer Adler, an introduction to the Great Books toward a liberal education, possibly the one that many would be more likely to skip and yet should read now is the Manifesto of the Communist Party by Marx and Engels. You might ask why? Some state that communism is dead, so why bother. In truth, communism as

The High Achievement of Christopher Dawson

2012-01-17T12:31:00.003-06:00

A Historian and His Word: a Life of Christopher Dawson, 1889–1970 by Christina Scott. The Dynamic Character of Christian Culture: Essays on Dawsonian Themes edited by Peter J. Cataldo. by RUSSELL KIRK“Years ago when I was an undergraduate your Ballad of the White Horse first brought the breath of life to this period for me when I was fed up with Stubbs and Oman and the rest of them. Unfortunately

Cicero on Generosity

2012-01-15T16:57:00.005-06:00

A few of Cicero's thoughts on generosity."Whereas one's purse must not be tightly closed against every generous inclination, it must also not be opened so wide that its contents are available to everybody and anybody.""Those who have got accustomed to being subsidized are bound to want more.""Nothing wins so much gratitude and enthusiasm as generosity (applied with discrimination.)"From On the

Things or Men?

2012-01-14T08:40:00.002-06:00

The following quotes are all from Russell Kirk, “Return to Principle in Politics: Conservatives and Liberals Take Thought,” Southwest Review 41 (Spring 1956): 142-152. “Ever since the Civil War, political thought has languished in the United States. For original political theory almost always is developed out of a time of troubles, when thinking men, forced to examine their first principles,

History Tells Us How Man Has Behaved for Six Thousand Years

2012-01-13T08:08:00.000-06:00

Other studies may tell us how man might behave, or how he should behave; history tells us how he has behaved for six thousand years. One who knows that record is in large measure protected in advance against the delusions and disillusionments of his time. He has learned the limitations of human nature, and bears with equanimity the faults of his neighbors and the imperfections of states. He

A 2,000 Year Old Man Testifies

2012-01-13T00:01:00.005-06:00

by Stephen Masty Spencer Bachus (R-AL), Chairman: I hope you all had a pleasant lunch. These hearings of the United States House Committee on Financial Services are now called to order. Mister Benjamin Levine, thank you for coming here. Are you The Wandering Jew? Levine: Depends. Barney Frank (D-MA): Mister Chairman, please insert into the record that The Wandering Jew may be a medieval

Bring Order to the Commonwealth by Ordering the Soul

2012-01-12T15:08:00.000-06:00

The illustrious ancients, when they wished to make clear and to propagate the highest virtues in the world, put their states in proper order. Before putting their states in proper order, they regulated their families. Before regulating their families, they cultivated their own selves. Before cultivating their own selves, they perfected their souls. Before perfecting their souls, they tried to be

Fraternity Only With God

2012-01-12T00:01:00.002-06:00

The following quotes are all from a speech (his second) Kirk gave to national convention of the Chi Omega sorority in 1956 and reprinted as Russell Kirk, “On the Shoulders of Giants,” The Eleusis of Chi Omega 58 (September 1956): 417-430. “Thus there cannot be brothers and sisters in a mystical sense without a mystical father. There is no brotherhood of mankind, in short, without the

Win A Dinner With Steve Masty!

2012-01-11T17:20:00.001-06:00

by Julie Robison Okay, that title is malarkey. I have no ability to secure dinner, candlelit or otherwise, with Mr. Masty. I am, nonetheless, intrigued by his Monday post and the question posed of whom I would invite to dinner given the chance to invite anyone in history. I thus submit my list to the general audience, with the caveat that I have a soft spot for nonsense, slicing wit and

What is Wisdom?

2012-01-11T00:01:00.002-06:00

by Will DurantTo the philosopher, all things are friendly and sacred, all events profitable, all days holy, all men divine. -- EmersonWhat is wisdom? I feel like a droplet of spray which proudly poised for a moment on the crest of a wave, undertakes to analyze the sea. Ideally, wisdom is total perspective -- seeing an object, event, or idea in all its pertinent relationships. Spinoza defined

The Christian Humanist: Neither Stickit Minister nor Sp'iled Praist

2012-01-10T00:11:00.002-06:00

In the fall of 1957, the issue dated Michaelmas (September 29), The Newman Review published one of Kirk’s wittiest and most insightful articles on the nature of Truth. Vigorously Platonic, Stoic, and Christian all at once, Kirk noted that the true scholar rarely, if ever, conforms to the standards and values of his day, but he must, to remain as pure of heart as possible, conform to the

Dinner with Newt? A TIC Colloquium

2012-01-09T00:01:00.011-06:00